Our morning routine

Her name is Tessa.

She is my puppy!

She is adorable and full of personality!

She is Mark's girl.

And this morning (our last morning without Mark- waiting for him to come home from work for this fornight)...

 she decided it was time to get up!!

This, or similar versions, are regular occurances in our bed early in the morning or in the middle of the night, when Mark is off at work.

5am

- Licking Mark's pillow- 

meaning- "I miss him"

  my response "Come here and cuddle"

5:15am

- Nuzzling into my side-

meaning- "no really... I'm sad"

 my response "Stop, just cuddle!"

5:30am

- Walking around the bed/scratching/then walking some more- 

meaning- "Open the door please"

my response "Stop! Go back to sleep!"

5:45am

-  Jumping off the bed and pacing on the wooden floors with claws scratching- 

meaning- "really.. did you not here me before....get up!!"

my response "Ignore!"

6am

- Still pacing!-

 my response "Fine lets get up!"

Tessa runs outside, checks her food bowl then sits on the rug with her toys and smiles at me!

She drives me crazy.

She makes me laugh.

She gets me up early every morning!

But...how can I resist this face!

Hi my name is Roberta and I am a neat freak!

 I don't know when it started (actually I think I may have a slight inkling), but for as long as I remember I have been a neat freak and perfectionist!!

It may have started with my love and obsession for Christmas where I'd meticulously decorate the tree, evolving into the family Christmas master where I would not let anyone else help me in the once family task. But I actually I think I became a neat freak in a very different way.

 

When I was a young girl I lived in a room with a door on one side and a window on the other leading into our family room. This room was great, I had it all to myself while my older sisters had to share. This room had many many benefits, one of which that was pointed out to me by my sister. When told to clean my room I could simply throw my toys out the window and it would be clean. When told to clean the family room I could throw the toys back! 

Then one day my parents bought me a 'treasure toy chest'! I loved my treasure chest (and still do today)! I'd put all sorts of collectibles in there, as well as my toys! It became a big, tangled, cockroach infested mess!

 I had a problem!

I was messy!!!

I could never find what I was looking for.

Until....

One day, I changed!

I got into my room, I opened my treasure chest, and I sorted!

I threw!

I cleaned!

Until the treasure chest was empty!

I don't remember when this was, but I remember the day so clearly! I remember being frustrated and wanting to be clean, to be known for being clean!

And to this day, I am known for being an organised and clean person, which puts an enormous smile on my face (just last week we had friends over for dinner and their comment was ís your house always this clean'). Just like Monika Geller from 'Friends' I delight in being the clean one!

But at the same time being a clean freak causes me much pain along the way.

My husband and I are currently renovating our home. Not a huge renovation, but enough to make a lot of mess (in my book anyway). 

Exhibit a... The mess of renovations.

 

I love renovating and having a goal and dream together to achieve. I am so proud of my husband for building us walls, and many other wonderful things. 

The problem is, at about 5pm every night like a ware wolf, as the sun starts to set, I turn into a monster! I clean freak monster that zooms around the house cleaning up! I scrub and I sort and i sweep and tidy until our home is perfect! I do not enjoy this side of being a perfectionist neat freak. But deep inside I cannot help it! 

And for this I apologise to my family and husband for any pain I have caused them along the way.

So slowly, with help and support I am learning to let go. 

I started by leaving mess inside every second day. To closing a door and leaving the mess behind. To sometimes going to bed without finishing the dishes. I let my car repair go for the tiny scratch they missed on my side mirror. 

I t may not seem like much, but to me it is important to keep trying. Cause one day, aside from a dog that leaves her toys scattered across the floor, I will have children who do the same. I have a husband who is so supportive and cleans up (to a normal persons standard) every day before I get home form work to ease my burden. 

I will always be clean and organised and neat. That is my personality and I cannot change that! But maybe I can let a little bit of my inner messy person out every now and again to save myself, and my husband, from going insane! Because I do not expect anyone to live up to my standards! They are unreachable, sometimes even for me!

Hi, my name is Roberta, and I'm a recovering neat freak!

Hello Monday

Hello sweet words that remind me that 

'Monday isn't so bad after all'

Hello puppy sleeping like a kangaroo on a strawberry that always makes me smile!

Hello notes from friends about weddings!

Hello new tree planted next to my driveway! We love trees!

Hello new little birdie to hold my notes and news! A little birdie tells me everything!

 

 

Hello beautiful birthday artwork hanging on my wall!

  

Hello new discovery and dream craft to share with my grandma! 

The mug cosy is just a little bit too cute!

 

Pressed Flower Art

When I was a child my mum gave me and my sisters pressed flower kits (or maybe it was Santa). I loved mine, and was happy to inherit my sisters unwanted ones as they grew up. I used to collect all sorts of flowers and leaves from the garden to press and make into cards for my family.

Now all grown up, I still love pressing flowers. Even though my beloved flower press is lost among the endless treasures I have stored at my mum's house, I am still making crafts from all sorts of pressed creations from my garden.

This particular craft was inspired by my kindy children. 

In the last few months they have pulled all the flowers from our playground garden to give to me. So instead of wasting them, one day we pressed the flowers and made cards, and I made this...

You will need:

* Old material of different colours. I have chosen cream canvas to match my walls, and a mustard yellow, one of my new obsession colours

* Scissors

* Pressed flowers- if you don't have a fancy flower press I simply used cardboard, blotting or tissue paper and some big books

* Picture frame with matt board- I picked this one up at a discount store

1- Press your flowers

I simply opened my big book to the back, put down one sheet of cardboard (cut to fit inside the book), followed by tissue paper (you can use blotting paper). Place the flowers to be pressed on top, followed by more tissue paper then cardboard. Close the book and leave for a week or so. 

Tip- Change the blotting paper every few days to prevent mould and discolouration.

2- Open your frame and remove the matt board.

 

3- Rip one side of your coloured fabrics to make a panel.

4- Rip the other fabric on three sides to make a background piece.

Make sure the material is slightly smaller than the inside of your matt board, so when it's all together you will see the jaggered edges. 

Now you should have your material ripped to size.

5- Put the matt back into the frame, and place the flowers in place on one side of the space.

6- Place the smaller panel of material down the other side of the frame.

Be sure that the ripped edge is showing on the inside of the frame.

7- Put the larger piece of material over the top. 

Make sure the ripped edges are showing inside the matt area.

8- Put the backing board in  place. 

And you're done. Ready to hang on the wall.

 

When hanging pictures, I have a trick to make sure you can keep the frame to use as a stand alone frame later down the track.I am often redecorating spaces around our house and like to move things around. So pulling off the stand is not an option for me! 

I simply use blu-tac to keep the frame attached to the stand.

 

And that is that! Enjoy and share your creative pressed flower artworks!

Connie and the Chocolate

Well, anyone who knows me will be able to tell you that time management has always been a struggle of mine. No matter how hard I try I can never seem to get it right. I  get up early for work and end up leaving five minutes later than I would on an average day. And when life throws you a curved ball and when time management is crucial all you seem to have are conversations with inanimate objects playing around in your head! 

"Hello" says the chocolate!

"Hello" says me.

"You deserve a bite, just one bite and I will ease your pain" says the chocolate.

"No" says me, "I do not need you. My hips my thighs and my tummy don't need you!"

"Just one tiny bite and you will feel happiness!" says the chocolate.

"But I am strong" says me.
"But I am chocolate, I am beautiful, I am your friend"  says the chocolate.
"No! I can not" says me.
"But if you don't eat me I will be wasted and eaten by that man who will not appreciate me as much as a wonderful lady would" says the chocolate.
"Ok. If I must to save you from the inevitable death by man. I will eat you" says me.

And we walk into the sunset hand in hand.

But amongst the chaos and time management struggles, mental insanity and renovation mess, I have discovered one thing that has eased my load!

Meet Connie!

Connie is my new Conair steamer and another inanimate object I have grown to love! 

And she is wonderful. Much more wonderful than the chocolate!

She makes me look efficient and organised when sometimes I am not!She makes my clothes shine, and puts a bounce in my step. Far more than the chocolate could ever provide. For the chocolate will give me instant satisfaction, while Connie will make me look good, and will even leave me time to eat the chocolate.

Another Lovely Love Story

This Love Story isn't nearly as lovely as ours, but lovely all the same. I wanted to share a bit of love and happiness with you for your day.

My mum gave me this book one year for Christmas, cause she saw it and thought it reminded her of mine and husbands love for each other. Everytime I read it I think of them both. Its a little piece of home, a little way to be grateful for every opportunity I have been given in life. Sometimes living far away from all your family on the other side of the country and being a miners wife is tough (more about that at another time). 

Sometimes I miss them, 

sometimes I enjoy the space and freedom to be on my own.

But husband is home tonight! 

YAY !!!!

a moments celebration for that please!

and...

 tomorrow is my birthday!!! 

A Lovely Love Story

We fell in love, well I fell in love many many years ago with a boy on a camp. He however needed some time.

I saw him and decided that he was the man I was going to marry (he had no idea)!

He and I were in the same games and orderly group. We flirted over washing up, he ventured to extreme craft to spend time with me, we shared glaces from across a bonfire, and he whisked me away to a lonely wharf one night and named for me my very own shooting star!

 I know, I know, wow! He was it to me! He was all I wanted.

As a shy girl I had never really been able to connect with someone on this level before. We talked as if we had always known each other. We shared everything from school and families to growing up. 

But time went by and.... nothing happened.

We grew apart.

He dated other girls!

I waited....


and waited....

I watched from the sidelines, ever hopeful of the strong feeling I held in my gut! We were meant to be.

Then on one Monday afternoon, three years later, we shared something in common again. We both attended the same TAFE college, in the same building, at the same time each Monday.
How had we not bumped into each other yet! But this particular Monday afternoon we did.

He was the same boy I fell in love with. It was as if time had stood still. We picked up right where we left off.

I knew..                                             THIS WAS MY CHANCE!

I couldn't let him go again!

As he walked me to the station I eagerly gave him my phone number!

I watched him walk the other way as I got onto my train. I sat there thinking about how amazing it was that I had been given a second chance at true love. Just then my phone rang, it was a message from HIM saying how much he enjoyed meeting up with me! I couldn't breathe the whole way home!

So I did what every girl would do!
I made excuses to see him the next afternoon. I casually walked into his work and we talked for hours. The next day I did the same. I visited him and he visited me until we went on our first date!

And that was that!

LOVE!

Uncontrollable, undeniable, unbelievable love!

And although we were so different from each other, we were drawn together and brought together in time. 

As much as I knew this was the one and only love I needed (even before we dated) time had to pass, our lives had to grow, and like the timing our first date, time had to take its turn!

As John Steinbeck said "the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry." You can not organise love!

So here we are nearly ten years on from our first meeting, as a new family! We didn't get here quickly, we didn't get here easily. We chose love's path, and the time it took only made us who we are today.

And I wouldn't trade in our story for any other one. 

Marrying him was my dream come true!

Welcome to my 'somewhat' organised life!

 

Hi, I'm Roberta, Husband is Mark, puppy is Tessa. 

Husband says I talk way too much and that I need to take more photos, so here it goes. 

This is our blog, to capture the good, the bad, and the mundane moments of our life. 

Thanks for reading!